Schools that participated in the 17th annual Rotary Winterama raised over $11,000 in pledges. The total raised by each school is shared with their respective Rotary Club to help fund youth projects within their community. The participating Rotary Clubs include Port Elgin, Southampton, Hepworth–Shallow Lake and Tara with each school receiving 70% of what they raised to support their own programs and projects.

On Friday, March 1 recognition was given to the top fundraisers as well as winners of the Winterama colouring contest at GC Huston Public School in Southampton. Pledges from GC Huston students totalled $6,546, more than half of the total raised from area schools for this year's Rotary Winterama.

Their hard work paid off, earning them $1,964 towards their Breakfast Club program and $2,618 for school projects. As a bonus for collecting the most of all the schools involved, the Huston Hawks were awarded an additional $500 from the Rotary Clubs, bumping their total up to $5,082.

It was a vibrant display of school spirit as the Hawks proudly applauded their classmates and the overall success of this year’s event. Ron Moss of the Port Elgin Rotary Club and organizer of Rotary Winterama was accompanied by none other than Bearama himself, Winterama's mascot, to help hand out the awards.

Alexis Rennick collected the most pledges this year, achieving a total of $1,178. Tied for second place Pledge Getters were Serenity and Andre Saunders, bringing in $382 each and not far behind was Max Reichert who raised $334 for third place. Another sibling team, Terrace and Raya Reinwald, took fourth.

The winners were awarded prizes donated by local community businesses and as a bonus were able to choose their own rewards which included an organized campfire with friends and acting as Principal for a day.

Moss expressed his gratitude and disbelief of the generous prizes donated by local businesses. He gave a special call out to Boston Pizza who not only contributed prizes but also supplied all the pizza for the hungry attendees at the February 9 Winterama event.

On the left, siblings Andre and Serenity each chose their prizes donated by local businesses in support of Rotary Winterama. On the right, Max received his award as the third place top pledge getter March 1 at GC Huston Public School.

On the left, GC Huston student Keira received second place in the Grade 2 colouring contest. On the right, Casey accepted his award from Bearama for second place in the Grade 1 colouring contest.

On the left, GC Huston student Erica took third place in Rotary Winterama's Grade 3 colouring contest. On the right, Jaxon gives Bearama a high-five after accepting his award for first place in the Grade 1 colouring contest.